Mental Health Awareness Month

This May, Benchmark Senior Living takes particular pride in recognizing and celebrating national Mental Health Awareness Month. The CDC has said that 20% of people aged 55 and older experience at least one type of mental health concern. Many of these concerns are exacerbated when seniors are still living at home alone in isolation. As a senior living provider, we truly understand why good mental health is increasingly recognized as a key component of overall health, especially in seniors.

That’s why the entire team at Benchmark is committed to providing daily social and emotional support that drastically reduces mental health risks for our residents. Bringing seniors together in our communities encourages and promotes healthy aging.

Our communities offer a variety of meditation classes, guided imagery, tai chi, yoga, general wellness programs, social programs and a wide selection of exercise programs and options for keeping residents engaged and connected. It’s not unusual for some of our seniors to participate in new activities for the first time in their lives and discover passions they never knew they had. All our programs and events are designed to improve and maintain both the physical and mental health of our residents, including those in assisted living and memory care environments. Research, as well as our own experience, shows that physical health and mental health go hand in hand.

We also offer the comfort of targeted support groups in many of our communities for those residents managing Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other mind and memory care diagnoses. In some of our communities, we cater to those who may benefit from low vision support groups.

For any residents coping with the loss of a loved one, we strive to help our residents and their families to connect with the right resources for needed support. We know how important it is to connect during times of loss in order to help people process their loss and help prevent them from feeling alone, so many of our communities have partnerships with psychiatry expert practices.

Our assisted living communities aim to increase overall life satisfaction for our residents, so a large part of our focus is reducing risk factors for any mental health distress. We want our entire community to rest easy knowing that we understand that life satisfaction, social and emotional support, and good mental health are all essential components to healthy aging.